My first couple months with Shaffer / Crete

Hate when the miles slip through your fingers like that. Good luck man.

 

For an experienced driver, which division would you guys recommend between dry van and reefer? I like the longer lengths of haul that come with reefer, I like the West Coast, and I live in Florida where dry van freight, unless things have changed in the last decade, tends to be difficult to come by. On the other hand, dry van doesn’t have the headaches that come with reefer, there’s substantially more drop and hook, and the deliveries and pick ups tend to have windows rather than set appts, which I love. I’ve heard much more negativity about the reefer side than the dry side, as well. I’m torn.

 

I couldn’t ever see how reefer was worth the headache, but your situation might make it somewhat. I don’t get to Florida all that often but when I do they always seem to get me back out without sitting. West coast is rare for me but currently heading for Tacoma WA. I really dislike grocery warehouses and the whole lumper thing so there’s less of that but more live loads than I thought.

 

You’re not the first one to tell me that the west coast is a rare sight for Crete & Shaffer drivers. I don’t like that at all.

 

I see lots of them in Cali every trip. Not so rare

 

You also waste a lot more time at grocery warehouses, you have many more occurrences of running out of hours before you’re empty and not having anywhere to park on site which leads to many more hours of service violations, there is zero flexibility in when you pickup and when you deliver due to set appts, you’re not given as much time (and often not enough) to get to the delivery because the idiot planners think a reefer engine doubles as a jet pack, your stress level (compared to that of a dry van driver) is through the roof as a result of everything mentioned above, and considering that you’re running fewer miles than the dry side (according to everyone I’ve talked to) you’re not making any more money. A higher CPM per mile means nothing unless you are also getting the same miles (or more) than those making less per mile. Ask anyone who has ever worked at Heartland. I don’t recall the exact starting CPM at Heartland but I think it’s close to $0.54-$0.55 a mile, and those guys are lucky if they get 2200 miles in a week. Anybody who’s been around longer than 5 minutes knows higher CPM rarely equates to bigger checks due to lower miles. You’re paid more per mile because you have to put up with a LOT more BS, which is why fewer miles does NOT = not having to work as hard.

Oh, and a dry van never has to waste time at a truck stop shop because a belt broke, or a carrier dealer because the reefer either died, won’t start, or isn’t staying up to temp.

And to top it all off, it’s a rare occurrence to have to go on a wild goose chase to find an empty dry van.

 

I’ll tske my 3-4 hours in a grocery warehouse vs 300-500 mile loads loadibg and reloading every day.